Mendocino County Today: Tuesday, Mar 3, 2015

• Frostfan Map
• AV UFOs
• Big Grape
• Nutball Central
• Herbicide Meeting
• PA Burglaries
• Bat Battery
• Gun Fun
• Eternal Exit
• Hero Snowden
• Catch o'the Day
• Willie's Weed
• Selective Hearing
• KZYX Alternatives
• Van Gogh
• Pipe Watch
• O'Brien Responds
• Senior Questions
• Nuclear Threat

FROST FANS. The machines, not you people who like the crispy Spring visuals. Tom Melcher has created an absolutely brilliant visual for all of us agitating for frost fan abatement. Tom has affixed a Valley topo map derived from the County's parcel map to a kind of poster board, the whole of it nicely framed in redwood. Now it's your turn. Everyone bothered by these monstrous noise machines is invited to pinpoint the sleep-destroying nuisance in your neighborhood. The map is housed with your beloved community newspaper high atop the Farrer Building in central Boonville. We've already discovered the locations of fans in the east hills that we didn't know about. Tom's map will be of great help when our case finally limps into Superior Court, Mendo, and we say “finally limps” because right from the get-go the worst offenders have evaded subpoena service and County Counsel Doug “Midnight Rambler” Losak has bumbled everything into delay mode. The County can be expected to defend the noise machines as an integral part of local “agriculture.”

IN THE MEAN TIME, Frost Fan opponents, you've got to file formal complaints with the Mendocino County Department of Planning and Building. It's a simple process. They even provide you with a complaint form. Fill it out and hand it to them, keeping a copy for yourself just in case. Well, this is Mendocino County.

WE'VE received a number of letters related to “paranormal activities” in the starry above, as sighted from the Anderson Valley. We don’t know if these sightings are figments of the always fervid imaginations of the tinfoil hat brigade, the con-trail conspiracy theorists or just regular folks, but we have to acknowledge that there have indeed been a lot of unusual things flying around up there, some of which we've spotted ourselves. To get to the celestial whys and whatfors of these perplexing visions, an AV Paranormal Investigation Commission has been formed. Members describe themselves this way: "In the past month we have been receiving calls on paranormal activities in the skies above the county. The reports have been focusing more and more on Anderson Valley, and most lately a flurry of calls of sightings between Boonville and Philo.

We are not certain what this indicates, but it seems that something is imminent. Please everyone be alert and report your sightings to the UFO hotline 707 895 3362 hosted by the AV Paranormal Investigation Commission."

DAVE SEVERN, the one-man monitor for the Navarro River, writes: "Since about noon on the 25th of February the Navarro River flow rate has dropped below 200 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the USGS gauging station located about 5 miles above the river's mouth. The California State Water Resources Control Board often limits or restricts water appropriation from the River when it drops below that 200 cfs level citing the low water impact on the fishery. Unfortunately there is no monitoring of water taken from the watershed beyond anecdotal and incidental reports from neighbors or hikers and fishermen stumbling upon pumps or piping. It is well known that the Anderson Valley wine community is eager for every drop it can get at this time to be used for frost protection and historically there has been a lot of fudging. Public outrage over the wine industry's alternative attempt to use extremely noisy frost fans has apparently pushed some vineyards back toward water usage."

THANKS TO MENDOCINOSPORTSPLUS for reminding us that last Sunday, March 1st, was the 35th anniversary of Steven Stayner's rescue of Timmy White. Stayner, 7, had himself been abducted off the street in Merced as he walked home from school. He was snatched by a retarded guy acting on behalf of an adjudicated cho-mo, Kenneth Parnell, an early walking argument for permanent incarceration of child violaters.

PARNELL subsequently lived with his captive child Stayner in various areas of Mendocino County, with long stays in Comptche and out on deep Mountainview Road between Boonville and Manchester. The Mountainview kidnap cabin, the property of the Piper Ranch, stands today beside the road where long-time locals never pass it without recalling the deep sadness it represents. Thirty-five years ago, and no longer sexually interested in the teenaged Stayner, Parnell recruited a Philo kid by the name of Poorman to kidnap Timmy White of Ukiah as the child walked home from school as Parnell waited nearby in a getaway car. The little boy was then driven by Parnell out to the Mountainview cabin from where, a few days later, Stayner, old enough now to realize that Parnell was a dangerous pervert, was able to hitchhike with Timmy White to Ukiah where the Ukiah police rescued both of them. The pair of fleeing hitchhikers, by the way, were given a ride by a Mexican man who is unidentified to this day.

AMONG the more depressing facts in the ultra-depressing Parnell-Stayner-Timmy White saga was the startling fact that, as Parnell and his captive catamite Stayner moved around Mendocino County not a single school enrolling Stayner as a student even tried to verify Parnell's legal custody of the boy. Of course the County (and the Anderson Valley) was teeming with unsavory characters at the time — from about 1968 to around 1980 when land prices began to price the more egregious creepo-crawlo's outtahere. It's startling to know that such world class psychopaths as Charles Manson (his family introduced dope to local teens); Leonard Lake (a volunteer firefighter with the Boonville fire department) and Tree Frog Johnson (renowned by Boonville hippies for his knowledge of wild life and his patience with small boys) all touched down in the Anderson Valley. I almost included the Moonies, a nutball theology with rural headquarters in Boonville. They were recognized as pure wackos back when words still had meaning, but they soon bought respectability via a DC newspaper and are now an influential segment of the Republican Party. In Boonville, the Moonies ran a brainwash camp on a ranch in SoBo where they later set up, of all things, a chinchilla farm.

A FRIEND has always maintained that she "senses a darkness" in the Anderson Valley. Myself, I think it was always more a case of a vast place, cheap rents and hippie credulity. Do Your Own Thing-ism as a way of life definitely had its limitations, a fact obvious at the time to those of us sneered at by hippies as "straights" and "rednecks."

ATTN: COMPTCHE & BEYOND: Voice your Concerns to MRC, Thursday evening, March 5, at the Comptche Community Hall.Please come to the Comptche Community Hall, Thursday, March 5, 2015, from 5-7pm to listen, learn, ask questions, and tell Mendocino Redwood Company what you think about their forest practices in your community. For years, we've watched miles of dead trees appear all over our county, the result of a poisoning process called hack and squirt. Along with fears of extreme fire behavior that endangers our homes, many are concerned about how MRC's use of toxins affects our water and the health of the forest. The effects of their actions do not stop at their property lines. Mendocino Redwood Company's only justification for this practice is how much money it would cost them to do otherwise. Representatives from MRC will be present from 6-7pm to listen to your concerns. We are hoping that representatives from Calfire, local fire departments, and the Board of Supervisors will also attend; any assistance making that happen would be greatly appreciated. The Comptche Community Hall is located on Comptche-Ukiah/Orr Springs Rd., east of the Comptche Store & Post Office. Email jesthompson@yahoo.com with questions.

MENDOCINO COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES were recently detailed to the area of Schooner Gulch Road and South Highway 1, Point Arena, California, where several residential burglaries had been discovered. Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the locations and processed the scenes for evidence. Deputies were able to locate and developed latent evidence from the scenes of the burglaries. While at the locations, Sheriff’s Deputies discovered a foot trail through the woods leading from one of the burglarized residences to a remote residence on Schooner Gulch Road.

On Feb 25, 2015, Sheriff’s Deputies followed the foot trail and made contact with several subjects at the property. The subjects, later identified as Peter Rose Jr. 21, of Point Arena, and Charles Matteson, 35, of Point Arena, were questioned about the burglaries and confronted with the evidence the deputies collected from the scenes. Sheriff’s Deputies were able to locate a large portion of the stolen property which was recovered and returned to the victims of the burglaries. Additional information was also developed which linked another resident, Dylan Donovan, 22, of Point Arena, to the burglaries. While at the suspect’s residence, Sheriff’s Deputies observed numerous building code and sanitation violations and believed the conditions were unsafe for habitation. The Mendocino County Planning and Building Services were contacted and a code enforcement officer responded and initiated an investigation.

Rose, Matteson and Donovan were arrested for Burglary and Possession of Stolen Property and transported to the Mendocino County Jail. Dylan Donovan was held in lieu of $50,000 dollars bail and both Peter Rose Jr. and Charles Matteson were held in lieu of $100,000 dollars bail.

SHE’S GOT A BAT

ON FEB 26, 2015 at 12:30 AM, Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were dispatched to the area of the 300 block of Crestview Drive in Ukiah for a domestic fight. Upon arrival, Deputies contacted the victim who stated that he had been in an argument with his girlfriend, Elizabeth McAllister, 32, of Ukiah. The victim stated that McAllister had assaulted him with a baseball bat to the forehead. The victim did have an injury to his forehead. The injury was a bump about the size of a silver dollar but he declined medical attention. A search of the residence was completed and the Deputies were able to find McAllister hiding under some clothes in one of the bedrooms. McAllister was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and felony domestic battery and taken to the Mendocino County Jail where her bail was set at $55,000.

AT HOME WITH THE SIFUENTES

ON FEB 21, 2015 at about 1:40 PM Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office were detailed to the Covelo Mobile Home Park located on Howard St. in Covelo regarding a shooting. Deputies arrived and spoke with the victims David Sifuentes, 38, of Covelo, and Eduardo Sifuentes, 33, of Covelo. Deputies learned there had been an argument over a subject driving through the park at a high rate of speed. The argument became a physical fight and a passenger from the vehicle, later identified as Jose Escareno, 27, of Covelo, exited the vehicle removed a firearm from his waistband, and struck one of the subjects in the back with the firearm.

This caused the firearm to discharge into the wall of a neighboring residence. Escareno then pointed the firearm at two of the subjects and pulled the trigger several times while saying he was going to kill them. The firearm had malfunctioned and did not discharge. Deputies were advised that a warden from the Department of Fish and Wildlife had the vehicle stopped on Highway 162 in Covelo. Deputies responded and seized two loaded handguns from the vehicle, one of which matched the description provided by the witnesses. Deputies also seized a spent pistol casing from the scene of the shooting which matched the caliber of the handgun. Jose Escareno was interviewed and subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail for attempted murder where he is held on $125,000 bail.

THE PD REPORTS:

Teen in fatal Santa Rosa crash likely took exit to evade deputies

Speeding south on Highway 101 at about 100 mph, two Ukiah teens realized they were being pursued by law enforcement by about the time they reached Santa Rosa, several miles before the 17-year-old driver took a highway exit too fast, crashed and died while her two passengers were injured, according to the CHP on Monday.

A funeral Mass for Keila Verdusco, 17, is scheduled for Friday.

The three had been to a party in Ukiah before they began driving south. Where they were headed wasn’t clear but CHP investigators believe Verdusco took the Hearn Avenue exit early Saturday hoping to evade the deputies catching up to her, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said Monday.

The small Toyota Echo was going too fast and the driver lost control in the curve. The car slammed down into a drainage area.

Verdusco died on impact. Front passenger Angelia Bennett, also 17, of Ukiah was thrown through the windshield out onto the ground. Neither girl had been wearing a seat belt.

In the back seat, 19-year-old Boonville resident Samuel Alvarez had been sleeping during the high-speed pursuit, according to the CHP. He had been wearing his seatbelt and suffered a broken neck.

CHP officers interviewed the survivors and were told the driver realized a patrol car with its lights on was somewhere behind her at about Airport Boulevard, Sloat said.

It took awhile for the deputy to approach the Echo due to the extreme speed, he said.

A Sonoma County sheriff’s official reported the fatal crash occurred during a 12-mile, high-speed pursuit by deputies.

A deputy first saw the car driving erratically as it passed through Windsor at 1:25 a.m. Thinking the driver could be drunk, the deputy took off after it and reported the car was moving at speeds faster than 100 mph.

Alvarez and Bennett were taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. They were no longer at the hospital Monday. Their conditions were unknown and it is unclear whether they were released to other hospitals or sent home.

Verdusco was a student at New Beginnings continuation high school in Talmage, school officials said. Bennett graduated from South Valley continuation school in Ukiah earlier this year and Alvarez graduated from Anderson Valley High School in 2013, school officials said.

New Beginnings on Monday issued a statement about Verdusco’s death: “It was with great sadness that we learned of Keila’s passing. As part of the (Mendocino County Office of Education) Alternative Education Program family, she will be greatly missed by our staff and students who knew her,” stated Merry Catron, director of alternative education programs. “We offer the family our most heartfelt condolences.”

Catron said counselors were available to students, and that students would be invited to take the time to remember Verdusco. Catron would not allow students at the school to be interviewed and would not divulge any information about Verdusco.

A viewing and rosary for Verdusco will be held at St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Church in Ukiah from 8 p.m. Thursday to 8 a.m. Friday, followed by a 10 a.m. Mass at the church on Friday, according to the Eversole Mortuary.

COMMENT OF THE DAY

Perhaps most remarkable in our time is not merely the presence of evil, but the eerie dearth of heroes, and by that I do not mean supernatural gym rats in spandex outfits swinging from the Frank Gehry condos on cords of spider silk. I mean living, breathing humans willing to engage with great and implacable forces. American sniper Chris Kyle was one of the rarees, and he was a strange case, really. Not just because of his alleged frailties, his tendency to play up his exploits, brag, maybe lie a little, but because he carried out his lethal deeds mostly at a remove — up there on the dusty rooftops of Fallujah, where he could reach out with his sniper-scope and swat human flies from a position of relative safety. Yet it is not hard to identify with his mission to kill “bad guys” — especially two years after his loopy martyrdom on a Texas gun range at the hands of a deranged fellow soldier driven mad on his own wartime mission. The more interesting hero to me is Snowden. The purity of his name alone kind of says it all. The documentary movie about his brush with history, Citizen Four (by Laura Poitras, also a hero), is now showing on cable TV. It follows Snowden during the days of spring 2013 when he went rogue on the National Security Agency and revealed to the public the extent to which the American government was prying and worming its way into everybody’s electronic life — ignoring the pain-in-the-ass constitutional limits on such mischief, and setting the USA up to be a police state beyond the frontiers of anything George Orwell dreamed about in his darkest nights of the soul.

It is more than ironic that Snowden was also Mr. Ed, because if you take his comportment on film at face value, never was there such an exemplary and seemingly normal American young man. His heroism resided largely in his amazing composure under the strain of events. He spoke English clearly and calmly, and reacted to the weighty events he set in motion with startling equanimity. He appeared to know exactly what he was doing, and with quiet, unshakable moral commitment. And then he disappeared down the gullet of America’s modern times nemesis, Russia, where he continues to taunt with his very existence, the NSA gameboys, lizard-lawyers and puppet-masters who cordially invite him back home to face, ho-ho, our vaunted justice system. Of course any six-year-old understands that they would love to jam Snowden down some federal supermax memory hole as an example to any other waffling NSA code-jockey having second thoughts about reading your grandpa’s phone records. — James Kunstler

CATCH OF THE DAY, Mar 2, 2015

LANCE FOX, Fort Bragg. Court order violation.

THOMAS HANOVER JR., Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, criminal threats of death or great bodily harm.

WILLIAM JACKSON IV, San Mateo/Redwood Valley. Probation revocation.

RICHARD JOHNSON, Hopland. Probation revocation.

DENA MORRIS, Willits. Vandalism, resisting arrest. (Frequent flyer.)

MICHAEL PELKEY, Fort Bragg. Dirk-Dagger, participation in criminal street gang, possession of more than an ounce of pot, probation revocation.

I'LL NEVER SMOKE WEED WITH WILLIE AGAIN

by Toby Keith

 

I always heard that his herb was top shelf.

Lord, I just could not wait to find out for myself.

 

Don't knock it till you've tried it. Well I've tried it my friend. And I'll never smoke weed with Willie again.

 

We learned a hard lesson in a small Texas town.

He fired up a fat boy and passed it around.

 

The last words I spoke before he took me in. Were, I may just try bungee jump, but I will never smoke weed with Willie again.

 

My party's all over before it began.

You can pour me some Old Whiskey River, my friend.

But I will never smoke weed with Willie again.

 

We were passing the guitar and telling bad jokes.

I could tell one was coming because I'm smelling smoke.

 

I do not partake, I just let it pass by.

With a grin on my face and a great contact high!

 

I'll never smoke weed with Willie again. My party's all over before it began.

 

You can pour me some Old Whiskey River, my friend.

But I'll never smoke weed with Willie again.

 

In the fetal position with drool on my chin,

I broke down and smoked weed with Willie again.

LAFCO & KZYX

Dear Commissioner Holly Madrigal:

I was very disappointed that you brought up KZYX this morning during the appointment proceedings of the alternate public member to the LAFCO Board. I thought your comment that I was a "difficult board member" of the KZYX Board was irrelevant. I'll explain.

On both "public" boards on which I serve --- the Retirement Board and the County Successor Agency to the RDA -- my service has been as exemplary, as it has been noneventful and uncontroversial (in every regard). I have attended every meeting of these two boards, have participated fully, have acted in the best interests of stakeholders, have been well prepared, have been collegial with other board members and staff, have been obedient to the will of the board once its votes are final, and I am committed to being the best trained public trustee in California, even if some of that training is an out-of-pocket expense to me.

KZYX, meanwhile, is a "private" board, and the problems at KZYX are systemic and serious. In any regard, I am not a "difficult board member," as you say. I am an agent for change -- necessary change. See my op-ed below.

The FCC agrees. The FCC has found cause to hold up the renewal of KZYX's licenses for over a year. Also, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) continues to cut KZYX's federal funding, as complaints from the public have found their way into the Inspector General's Office of the CPB. Finally, the KZYX Winter Pledge Drive was a flop. It missed its goal 30 percent. Why? Because the people of Mendocino County are now paying attention to the problems at KZYX, along with the FCC and CPB.

LAFCO is not KZYX -- by any stretch in any universe.

With respect,

John Sakowicz, Ukiah

* * *

ANOTHER VOICE

In the last few editions of The Sunday Ukiah Daily Journal, I've been the subject of ad hominem attacks, personal attacks, by a few misguided folks loyal to KZYX Executive Director, John Coate, who runs KZYX like General William Tecumseh Sherman ran the old Apache Indian Reservation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Well, I can live with those attacks. I take my inspiration from Geronimo.

Geronimo and his little band of Chiricahua Apache refused to live on the reservation. They fought hard. Attacks and counter-attacks were common. The war with the feds lasted for years. It was bitter, terrible fighting. In the end, Geronimo lost. The pursuit of Geronimo and the Apache by the feds wore them down. They had no time to rest or stay in one place. The feds were tenacious and in constant pursuit. Geronimo surrendered. He was subdued, but his spirit was never dominated. He wouldn't shut up. He wouldn't stay on the reservation. Geronimo traveled the country, even visiting the St. Louis Worlds Fair. He brought attention to the plight of Native Americans. How the white man betrayed Native Americans. Massacred them. Broke treaties. Stole land. History remembers Geronimo kindly. When Geronimo surrendered he had in his possession a Winchester Model 1876 lever-action rifle, with a silver-washed barrel, and receiver bearing Serial Number 109450. It is on display at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York.

More than fifty years ago, as a kid on a class field trip to West Point, I touched that Winchester. And now, all these years later, I take my inspiration from it. I reject the reservation mentality. I reject the reservation mentality that John Coate has tried to impose on KZYX. And, like Geronimo, I refuse to shut up. I will speak out against what is wrong. I will speak out against what's wrong at our public radio station.

And what's wrong at KZYX? Let me count the ways:

Two different women have suffered battery at the hands of men on KZYX premises. Shocking. But Coate refused to have the incidents investigated by the Sheriff's Office. Why? He doesn't want outsiders prying into things, thank you very much

KZYX's 2,300 members want to make the on-air programming choices -- but can't . They're not allowed. Right now, Mary Aigner, Coate's program director, is the sole decider on what shows get put on the air. Aigner is the sole arbiter of style and content. The listenership is the big loser.

Good programmers get purged at KZYX for speaking out against Coate or Aigner. Those programmers include myself, Norman De Vall, Doug McKenty, Johanna Schultz, Beth Bosk, and numerous others. Popular programmers for have been on the air for years, like Marco McClean at KNYO, will never even get a show. Why? For the simple reason that Aigner doesn't like them. Even Ukiah Daily Journal editor, K.C. Meadows, once had a show at KZYX, but she ran afoul of Aigner.

Transparency and accountability in station finances is nonexistent. Even a simple thing like staff salaries aren't disclosed at KZYX. Why the secrecy? Also, $5,000 raised by the community for a Ukiah studio, and another $5,000 from a family foundation grant stipulated for a Ukiah studio, have both gone missing. Ten thousand dollars in missing monies. That's a very bad thing at a nonprofit corporation like KZYX.

Broadcast equipment fails, and fails often. The listeners of KZYX often get dead air or irritating scratchy signals. Why? Because our equipment is old and held together by bailing wire and masking tape. Money goes to salaries instead of equipment and technology, where it's needed.

We don't have a studio in Ukiah. And we need a studio in Ukiah. KZYX's main studio is in Philo, population 349, and far from anything that's newsworthy. No studio in Ukiah, our county seat, population 16,075.

Station management scoffs at the spirit of the law for affirmation action and equal opportunity. They should advertise or post all jobs, even part-time jobs. But they don't. Jobs go to friends and friends of friends.

Finally, about me. I continue to do good shows on public radio. At KMEC. Sid Cooperrider and I just interviewed NSA whistle blowers Bill Binney and Kirk Wiebe. That's pretty damn good for a low-power, all-volunteer, radio station. Here's the link to the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3tG_yJIrW0

We hope to have Tom Drake on KMEC soon. We're even hoping that we can connect with Edward Snowden. Also, we at KMEC want to do a show with Laura Poitras, who just won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2015 Oscars for Citizenfour -- the film about Snowden, Binney, and the two other whistleblowers. We can do it. KMEC is the mightiest little radio station in America!

So what should the good people of Mendocino County do?

They should support KMEC, KNYO, KYBU, the low-power, all-volunteer, stations in Mendocino County. That's what we need to do. Support them until real and meaningful change comes to KZYX.

Starve the beast. Coate and Aigner don't deserve your money.

Thank you.

John Sakowicz MCPB Board of Directors (2013-2016), Board Treasurer (2014)

MARCH IS NATIONAL COLORECTAL CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Colorectal cancer is a highly preventable and treatable disease. Being aware of the risk factors and symptoms and following screening guidelines is key.

SYMPTOMS OF COLORECTAL CANCER:

Colorectal cancer is cancer of the colon or rectum. It is often referred to as colon cancer. Symptoms of colorectal cancer often are not apparent in its early stages. In fact, the most common symptom is NO symptom, which is why screening beginning at the age of 50 is key to early detection. When symptoms DO arise, the most common involve changes in bowel habits.

Although several of the following symptoms may be characteristic of problems other than colorectal cancer, contact your health care provider if you experience any of the following:

• A distinct change in bowel habits
• Feeling like your bowel is not emptying completely
• Unexplained anemia
• Blood in stool
• Narrower than usual stools
• Gas pain, cramps, bloating
• Unexplained weight loss
• Nausea or vomiting

RISK FACTORS FOR COLORECTAL CANCER:

• Being age 50 and older
• Colorectal polyps
• Family history of colorectal cancer
• Personal history of cancer
• A long history of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s Disease)
• Diet – studies suggest that diets high in fat (especially animal fat) and low in calcium, folate, and fiber may increase the risk. Other studies suggest that people who eat a diet low in fruits and vegetables may have a higher risk.
• Tobacco use
• Being overweight
• Sedentary lifestyle / lack of exercise
• Excessive alcohol use
• High consumption of processed or red meat
• Genetic alterations – If you have a family history of colorectal cancer, ask your healthcare provider about genetic testing.

SCREENING GUIDELINES:

The U.S. Preventative Task Force recommends the following screening guidelines to detect polyps and cancer before any symptoms arise. Talk with your health care provider about what type of screening is best for you.

• Ages 50-75: Screening for colorectal cancer using fecal occult blood testing, sigmoidoscopy, or colonoscopy. (The risks and benefits of each screening method varies.)
• Ages 76-85: No routine screening for colorectal cancer in adults in this age group. (There may be considerations that support colorectal cancer screening for an individual.)
• Ages 86 and older: No screening for colorectal cancer.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Include high-fiber foods in every meal. Fill most of your plate with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
• Be active. Get at least 30 minutes of exercise each day.
• Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
• Don’t smoke.
• Get regular colon cancer screenings.

(Source: National Cancer Institute www.cancer.gov)

*This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your doctor or health care provider. We encourage you to discuss with your doctor any questions or concerns that you may have.

INSURANCE AND SCREENING:

Affordable Care Act (ACA) - Coverage of colorectal cancer screening tests is required by Affordable Care Act. Health plans started on or after September 23, 2010, are required to cover colonoscopies and other colorectal cancer screening tests. Plans started before September 23, 2010 may still have coverage requirements from state laws, which vary, and other federal laws. Contact your health insurance company to find out about coverage.

Medicare - covers an initial preventive physical exam for all new Medicare beneficiaries that must occur within one year of enrollment. If you've had Medicare Part B for longer than 12 months, a yearly “wellness” visit is covered without any cost. Your health care provider should discuss with you a screening schedule (like a checklist) for preventive services you should have, including colon cancer screening.

MediCal – California is authorized to cover colorectal screening under their MediCal / Partnership HealthPlan program.

To learn more, please contact the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County.

Inland Office: 590 S. Dora St, Ukiah (707- 467-3828)

Coast Office: 45040 Calpella St, Mendocino (707-937-3833)

The Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County is a grassroots organization serving our communities since 1995, providing information, advocacy, and support services free of charge.

Our mission is to improve the quality of life for those in Mendocino County faced with cancer. Our vision is that no one in Mendocino County will face cancer alone.

2015 Cancer Awareness and Prevention Campaign

Sponsored by the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County in collaboration with the Mendocino County Health and Human Services Agency (www.co.mendocino.ca.us/hhsa/)

WRIGGLE OUTTA THIS, GORDY

KZYX Election - Response to Mr. Black

Editor: I am writing to respond to Mr. Gordon Black's letter, published in your February 25 edition. Concerning the FCC complaints filed by Mr. John Sakowicz and others: I will never condemn anyone for exercising their right to petition the government for redress of a perceived wrong. Apparently the complaints have some merit, as the FCC has requested additional information. However, when faced with the same situation, I chose to bring the issues to the members rather than file a lawsuit or regulatory complaint.

Similarly, I cannot condemn anyone for exercising their right of free speech. But I have asked everyone to focus on policies and procedures, actions and their consequences, rather than make personal insults or demean someone's character. Specifically, I have asked that no one make any "third-party hits" on my behalf. I believe that doing so does far more harm than good. Nonviolent communication, sometimes called collaborative communication, is a good model.

Concerning my affiliation with the Mendocino Environmental Center and KMEC 105.1 FM: I have been on the board of directors of the MEC for seven of the past twenty years, gaining much experience in the operation of a membership nonprofit organization that runs a radio station. I am currently not a director, so I have no conflict of interest.

Should I be elected to the board of directors of MCPB/KZYX, I will have a fiduciary duty to that organization, placing its interests above all others, including my own. The MEC board has asked me to continue as treasurer, but my duties as such are only clerical. I will not be making any policy decisions or be involved in any confidential discussions.

Concerning MEC - KZYX collaboration: I convened a meeting on this subject in September 2009 (summary below). The use of KMEC's production room as a Ukiah studio for KZYX was discussed. Though there are no legal or technical barriers, there is a question of accessibility (stairs). The management of KZYX chose not to pursue any form of collaboration at that time, and there has been no contact between the organizations since.

In short, I support freedom of speech and the right to petition the government, along with open governance and decentralization of power. I have chosen to address these issues via the board election rather than take legal action. Engaging with the members and the public is not just a means to an end. It is a principle unto itself, especially for an organization whose primary function is communication. And if an opportunity arises to collaborate with others to better serve the people of Mendocino County and beyond, I will consider it with great interest.

Sincerely, Dennis O'Brien

Candidate, Board of Directors, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting

Ukiah

PS. Summary of MEC — KZYX Meeting on Collaboration, September 23, 2009

Missions: Mendocino Environmental Center — to protect the Earth and to promote peace and social justice; to facilitate the work of like-minded organizations (from bylaws). Mendocino County Public Broadcasting (KZYX) — to serve the entire community of Mendocino County by providing high quality, independent, community and public radio and other media products and services (from corporate statement of purpose). Motivations: KZYX - increase presence in Ukiah; closer to activities & news sources; closer to funding sources; less travel for Ukiah-based programmers. MEC - facilitate good work of others; maximize use of building; earn some money; learning that will benefit KMEC. Both - collaboration inherently good; reach larger community; increase membership base; need for community news, fill void of declining print media Fears: That KZYX will take over KMEC. That the MEC/KMEC will compete with KZYX for members, funding

Scope of Proposals:

Use of upstairs production studio (after main studio moved downstairs). Co-produce and simulcast programs from main studio.

Use of Center for KZYX receptions, other functions Requirements: High-quality transmission line from Ukiah to Philo (cost: $150 per month). KZYX must retain control over simulcasts to insure quality & reliability, and to meet all non-profit and FCC requirements (more stringent than for MEC/KMEC) Concerns: KZYX management needs to maintain face-to-face connection with their programmers to insure ready-to-go (trained), on time, reliable; their volunteers have limited training and responsibilities. Philo studio has more resources, including music library. Moving Willits studio to Ukiah not an option (too great a need there plus significant investments of time/energy/resources).

Low-power stations can't rebroadcast full-power programs. Some KZYX members wanted a "semi-autonomous" governance of Ukiah studio, but non-profit laws and FCC rules require that MCPB board retain control.

Costs: It costs $40,000 per month to operate KZYX, with decreasing memberships, grants; it costs $1,000 to operate the entire Mendocino Environmental Center, including KMEC, mainly due to all-volunteers and no NPR. KZYX raised $5,000 to be dedicated to a Ukiah studio.

If the MEC charges KZYX the minimum underwriting amount ($20 per month for every hour per week), then KZYX could broadcast 10 hours per week from Ukiah for $350 per month ($200 rental, $150 transmission line), or $4,200 per year.

Other: Any agreement should have a written framework of co-operation, MOU. We should move ahead with strategic planning despite funding challenges. Combined programmer meeting? Saturday Afternoon Club?

DURAND WANTS TO KNOW

To : City of Fort Bragg & Board of Directors

Mr Charles Bush at Redwood Coast Senior Center http://rcscenter.org/

1. Is their any inside or outside “smoking sections” at the Redwood Coast Senior Center?
2. Can Native Americans practice their religious ceremony's at the Redwood Coast Senior Canter?

Respectfully

Dr. Durand Evan t.f.m

Fort Bragg

REDUCING THE THREAT OF NUCLEAR WAR TO THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT

by John Lewallen

I have been studying nuclear threat confrontation for several decades. Now, I believe, we need to mobilize the environmentalist community to avoid nuclear war, an environmental threat at least as threatening to the human environment as is climate change.

We are in need of public knowledge of what nuclear weapons are, how nuclear weapons are being used as weapons of threat today, and the danger of nuclear war being caused by the misguided (read "insane") effort of the United States to gain "Nuclear Primacy," defined as the ability to destroy any nation's nuclear arsenal before it can be used.

Just now, I feel there are two acute military confrontations involving nuclear weapons on both sides: the United States confronting Russia in Ukraine, and the US confronting North Korea on its borders with scheduled military exercises with South Korea in March.

North Korea is formally at war with the US, and recently threatened imminent military attack against the US. It is a small and impoverished nation, and if the US would offer North Korea friendship and assistance instead of economic sanctions and military encirclement, probably it would respond in kind. North Korea may have the ability to strike the US with a nuclear weapon.

Russia and the US are in an ongoing thermonuclear confrontation involving thousands of weapons aimed at each other, many on hair-trigger alert, even one of which could wipe out whole cities or the electronics of whole continents.

If the US continues military support to the Ukraine, it will cross a dangerous line in the ongoing nuclear weapons confrontation between the US and Russia. It is very unlikely that Russia will purposely start a nuclear war with the US. However, the US has Russia and China encircled with missile and other first-strike forces. Every year the US Space Command has a simulated nuclear first-strike against Russia and China, focused on destroying Russian and Chinese nuclear weapons before they can be used. If I were a Russian or Chinese leader, I would feel that the existence of Russia and China constantly are threatened by this US force and aggressive attitude. I would know that, if a nuclear exchange could not be avoided, I would have to strike first to keep my arsenal from being destroyed. It is plain insane for the US to put Russia and China in this position, and makes us and all life hostages, facing complete destruction if somebody miscalculates and starts a nuclear war.

A Dangerous Silence About The Present Danger of Nuclear War

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Americans heaved a collective sigh of relief, assuming that the terrifying confrontation of thousands of thermonuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert between the United States and the Soviet Union was over. Although Russia and the United States have worked together in many ways since then to reduce nuclear threats and the number of nuclear weapons, the confrontation of nuclear bombs and missiles has never ended.

When Russia invaded and took over Crimea in Ukraine last year, all these nuclear threat reduction efforts came to a screeching halt. The US and Russia now are engaged in a spiral of escalation involving, among other things, economic sanctions, military confrontation, and displays of nuclear weapons prowess.

I was born in about the same time and place as the Atomic Bomb, New Mexico in the early 1940s. The terrifying prospect of nuclear war has been part of my whole life. Today, as I write about the nature of nuclear weapons and nuclear war, usually I am greeted with silence. The US government does not want to talk about the major thermonuclear threats against the US homeland, and the US public does not, I believe, want to talk or think about nuclear war today, preferring to think it was a danger that ended in 1991.

In the 1980s, President Reagan led the nation in an attempt to dominate space militarily with space weapons, and to protect the US from nuclear attack with a missile defense shield. Since then, the US has plunged billions of dollars into space weapons and missiles encircling Russia and China.

Today the US threat to make a pre-emptive strike to neutralize Russian and Chinese nuclear forces is acute and growing. It is urgent that this US threat posture toward Russia, China, and North Korea be reduced. It's time for all of us to study nuclear weapons and nuclear confrontation strategy, because we and our world could be destroyed by nuclear war.

Nuclear Weapons: Too Destructive to Use

No nuclear weapon has been used in war for almost seventy years, since the US dropped on Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, August 9, 1945. By avoiding nuclear war until now, the human race has transcended probability, affirming life, love, and the fact that the whole human community worldwide now is linked together in a fate we all share.

The use of even one thermonuclear weapon would be massively destructive to the human environment. As most people in the world realize, the only sane nuclear weapons strategy is avoidance of their use. However, as the New York Times reported, the administration of President Obama has embarked on a trillion-dollar buildup of nuclear weapons. I believe this is increasing the risk of nuclear war, as Russia, China, North Korea, and other nations are forced into developing weapons to deter attack from the United States.

I recommend that people read the information in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia under "Nuclear Weapons" and "Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Weapons." A lot has changed since the 1990s. Now at least nine nations have nuclear weapons. Also, our old image of missiles-versus-missiles is dangerously outdated. The major nuclear nations all have developed nuclear electromagnetic pulse weapons, designed to be detonated at high-altitude to create a powerful electromagnetic pulse, destroying many or all computer chips in line of sight. A 2006 US Senate study found that China and Russia both understand nuclear electromagnetic pulse warfare very well, and claim to have developed electromagnetic pulse weapons so powerful they can overwhelm all efforts to protect computerized civilization, and could deliver these weapons by missile or satellite over the US homeland.

Also available on the internet is "The Rise of U.S. Nuclear Primacy" by Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press (Foreign Affairs, Vol. 85, No.2, March/April 2006), which describes the US strategy of trying to gain dominance of the nuclear field of battle with weapons designed to destroy Russian or Chinese or any other nation's nuclear forces before they can be used. This seems to me to be an insane strategy which, unless abandoned, may end in apocalyptic catastrophe.

Proposed US Nuclear Weapons Strategy: No First Use, Negotiate Arms Reductions

I would feel a lot safer if President Obama, who campaigned for "a nuclear-free world," would announce that, because the use of even one nuclear weapon poses unacceptable risk to the human environment, the United States will possess them for deterrence only, and will never be the first to use a nuclear weapon. This "no first use" declaration should be backed up by a withdrawal of first-strike US weapons surrounding Russia, China, and North Korea, and other moves toward complete nuclear disarmament.

The US military budget now is half the total military spending of all nations on Earth. US stated policy of "Full Spectrum Dominance" of all fields of battle on Earth is not possible to achieve in nuclear or space warfare, where even one nuclear weapon could wipe out electronic civilization continent-wide and destroy space assets, military and civilian. Nuclear and space warfare are catastrophically unfavorable fields of battle for the US, so the US is plain crazy to drive the world toward nuclear and space warfare.

Can An Ordinary Citizen Influence Nuclear Weapons Policy?

I do not believe that President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry want nuclear war at all, nor any kind of military conflict with Russia. We urgently need a citizen outcry for peace with Russia and a reduction of nuclear weapons threats and deployments, or the voices in the US calling for military aid to Ukraine may prevail, putting us all in increasing danger of nuclear war. Individuals, political leaders, peace and environmental groups, all of us need to speak out to put wind in the sails of our leaders who are trying to avoid nuclear war.

Tony de Brum was a nine-year-old kid in a thatch house in the South Sea Islands paradise called the Marshall Islands when the US detonated a fifteen-megaton hydrogen bomb, about a thousand times as powerful as the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, on nearby Bikini Atoll. Two days later Tony knew his world had changed when the gecko lizards began dropping from the ceiling dead.

Now Tony de Brum is Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands, leading his nation in a civil lawsuit in the International Court of Justice, demanding enforcement of the nuclear-armed nations' commitment in the 1968 Nuclerar Non-Proliferation Treaty to negotiate full nuclear disarmament. "All the nuclear weapons states are modernizing their arsenals instead of negotiating, and we want the court to rule on this," said Phon van den Biesen, the leader of the nation's legal team. Many people and groups, including the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and Veterans for Peace, are supporting the Marshall Islands lawsuit to enforce nuclear disarmament as required by the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968, one of the few nuclear weapons limitation treaties still in existence.

The Marshall Islands isn't seeking compensation for the effects of 67 H-bomb tests by the US in their beautiful homeland, which have poisoned the environment and brought widespread human disease. A very low-lying atoll of incredibly beautiful islands, they are in danger of going completely underwater if carbon emissions can't be controlled.

In an email from a climate summit meeting in Lima, Peru, Tony de Brum sent an email noting that climate change and the threat of nuclear war are related environmental issues. "They both affect the security and survival of humanity," Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony de Brum wrote. "Finally it comes down to this: What would it gain mankind to reach a peaceful resoulution of the climate change threat, only to be wiped out by a nuclear misunderstanding?"

John Lewallen is author of Ecology of Devastation: Indochina (Penguin Books, 1972), and editor of High-Altitude Nuclear War (Nuclear Press, 2000). He lives in Philo, CA. Contact him at <lewallen@mcn.org>.